Ken's Random Adventures of 2013 Trip Reports Thread

^^ Thanks a bunch Robb!

 

Here is part 2! Including a look around the Zoo!

 

Part 3 coming up after the Walking Dead!

Welcome back! Moving on to the rest of the park now...

Next we sky loved all the way to the other side of the park.

I want the unicorn!

See you again shortly!

Looks like the carousel was getting some TLC

The neat thing about Tobu's train is it is a single line with a turn table on both ends of the track for the engine to disconnect from one end of the cars and to hook up to the other.

The film crew again

Sky love was a great transport ride to the back of the park.

So pretty

Hey guys.

Rides double stacked

Earlier I said in some parts Tobu looks nice... Well is some parts it looks pretty ghetto.

Ummm yeah....

Strange Street was the haunted walkthrough.

Next up we wandered into the zoo

They had a great selection of animals.

From what I understand you pay and get to talk to the animals?

The ferris wheel looks like a windmill and is in the "Farm" section of the zoo.

They also had penguins including several emperor penguins.

The monkey area

I just want to take him home!

Smart fella

Camels

Hey, what's up?

The white tigers were the most popular animal during our visit. I guess it had a cub a few days before.

Edited December 2, 2013 by kidcoaster 2

Part 3

 

Last bit of Tobu Zoo and our first night in Nagoya

Of course we had to take one more ride!

They were working on the drop tower as we passed.

Our choice for lunch was of course the 100% authentic Itarian restaurant!

Time to leave "Tob "

"Why are you still here?"

"Read the sign... get the hell out of here"

Goodbye Tobu Zoo

It was a great day!

Waiting for the train back to the hotel to grab our bags.

We had a bit of time till we had to go catch our bullet train so some of us went to the top floor bar for a drink. Check out that view! Tokyo Tower is there on the left.

Pretty excited for my first bullet train!

Our hotel for the next few nights!

After settling in we took a walk to find some food.

We ended up here.

It was a cook your own meal place complete with seats on the floor.

A few beers in we got brave and decided to order the most messed up thing we could find on the menu... We choose Womb...

Dan taking over grilling the womb.

It was like eating a rubber band.

It is just around the corner from the hotel so if you are on a TPR tour check it out! I recommend it!

My night ended on floor 3F of this building

 

Universal Studios Japan coming next!

Great TR! I'm hoping to go on the next Japan trip in 2015, and your TR makes it even more enticing!!!

Kawasemi is probably my favorite coaster. Been to that park twice and have never been through the zoo though. Maybe next Japan trip!

Cool report so far, thanks for sharing.

 

Is it just me or is China and UAE totally kicking our ass in terms of architecture? Some of those buildings are just amazing!

 

Also, I would definitely crud myself if Darien Lake were to get a Kawasemi-like coaster running over their little lake. I can always wish, can't I?

Wow! Looks like you got to experience some awesome looking places during your visit! Uni Singapore looks absolutely amazing! The detail in the facades and the immersion looks incredible. Honestly, though, it makes me scratch my head how well done far, far way is. Seems like a waste that they just have Shrek 4D and not a better attraction like a dark ride!

Cool report so far, thanks for sharing.

 

No problem glad you are liking it!

 

Also, I would definitely crud myself if Darien Lake were to get a Kawasemi-like coaster running over their little lake. I can always wish, can't I?

 

Needless to say they would have a brand new season pass holder!

So judging from the pics and report, the looping wild mouse is gone?

My god! Angus McNasty followed us to Japan!

 

 

I thought I'd felt a curious tremor in the Force.

So judging from the pics and report, the looping wild mouse is gone?

 

Yes, according to RCDB it was removed in 2009.

So glad I saw Robb's tweet today about this report; love it! WHEN DO WE GET TO HEAR ABOUT THE "3RD FLOOR?!?!???!?" This is info I need.

 

Looking forward to more!

Awesome report. Really hope to get back to Tobu Zoo some day for more Kawasemi rides!

 

dt

Great report! I absolutely loved Tobu Zoo. Lots of fun and weird things around there. Plus, it has Kawasemi, one of the best rides in the world!

I wish a Mega-Lite would be built in the US so I could ride one.

 

Great report, by the way

I just went through your whole thread. Great TR of all the parks you went to.

So judging from the pics and report, the looping wild mouse is gone?

 

The thing is when you get off the subway and take the exit towards the zoo they have a huge corridor of all the installations over the years, seems like there have been a huge amount of rides that have come and gone in quite a short time span, they seem to rotate new ones in as old ones go out..... not quite sure why when there seemed quite a lot of open space between some of the park area and the zoo area, but on my visit on a sunny saturday in late february, Tobu Zoo was empty to the point they were using filled water cans to fill up the cars on the mega-lite and only had the front or back car for passengers with a single train (and still didn't get a line) so maybe they just never have had the need to have that many rides. The other smaller parks I visited on the saturday seemed busier but that's probably because they were in Tokyo.

All that's left is this poster on the subway corridor.

The next day we left the hotel after breakfast to head to the park I was looking forward to most on the trip, Universal Studios Japan!

 

It took several trains before we arrived at the park, the train station dumps us right into City Walk (Well half a city walk as it's only one side). We walked to the entrance where our hosts took us downstairs (Yes down stairs as the park entrance is on top of the park's offices.

 

We were taken to one of the rooms where the park gave us a very great and detailed presentation on the history of the park and even discussed attendance and the flops and successful moves the park has done through the years. The honesty of this park just blew me away.

 

After the presentation we were supposed to be walked to Hollywood Dream for the first ride but it was still down for weather so we were walked to Space Fantasy.

 

Space Fantasy It is really hard to describe this ride (Besides being manufactured by MACK) it was just random, weird, and very awesome! If you have on it than you know of the Mirror Room which was the best part.

 

Back To The Future The Ride After Space Fantasy we went straight for BTTFTR. Being the last in the chain I was looking forward to getting to ride it before they eventually removed it. You could tell the ride is out dated but it was really nostalgic. Going all they way into the future of 2015 was neat .

 

Jurassic Park Being we were already soaked we figured why not ride a water ride. It was the exact same as Hollywood and Orlando.

 

JAWS This was the main reason I signed up for the trip after it was announced USJ would be an add-on. It was the exact same as Orlando was just with crazy Japanese skippers! At least here Harry Potter and JAWS can co-exist (Well at least for now).

 

Snoopy's Great Race This was the best themed kiddie coaster I have ever seen. It was your typical roller skater though.

 

We wandered around the snoopy area and checked up on Hollywood Dream before heading to take another ride on Space Fantasy before grabbing a drink at Finnegan's (I LOVE special themed drinks all around the park!).

 

Spiderman The Ride Turns out during our visit Spiderman was down to get the upgrade the Orlando version just got but USJ was nice enough to give us a peak at the upgrade before it opened to the public in the following weeks. There were no pictures allowed during the tour except the maintenance area. They ran a stationary car through the entire ride program in the maintenance bay and then gave us the new 3D glasses and took us on a walk through the entire track! With the projections running! They were even stopping some of the projections to show off the tiny details that were added they you wouldn't be able to see during the ride. At one point they even let us into a projection room. It was the coolest back stage tour I have been on! So a huge thanks to USJ and the members from our group for making it happen!

 

Hollywood Dream & Hollywood Dreams: Backdrop Ok so did I mentioned it was pouring ALL DAY! I mean seriously the sky was just dumping a bucket on us all day. We were about an hour and half before we had to leave as we left the tour. Someone got word they may finally open so all of us headed over (It hasn't run all day). We all had express passes (Thanks R&E!) so we all got inline for the express (Normal line was about an hour at this point) after a few test runs followed by more rain (Rides in Japan do not run if it is sprinkling) we thought there was no way it was going to open.

 

Finally it opened so our entire group went in first and we all took over the who train for Backdrop (Well except the front (Back?)). I am pretty sure everyone choose Smap-Battery for their song (Listening to it as I write this report!). It really was one of my favorite coaster experiences as you could feel all the excitement in the air from everyone on the train and those in line! There was dancing on the train and plenty of people whooping for joy!

 

Backdrop was pretty fun with some pops of air. We did forward right after but it felt kind of lame. Overall a good ride for the park though and Backdrop was obviously a hit since it is now a permanent attraction, so congrats to USJ!

 

We grabbed another ride on Space Fantasy before we had to leave for our welcome dinner. We got off the train and walked to a very tiny restaurant where we were met by Mr. Kitagawa of Yokohama Cosmoworld! We were treated to endless yakatori, rice and just a ton of awesome food! Also endless drinks and Saki! No better way to kick off a trip!

 

Next Stop: Hirakata Park and the Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine!

Welcome to Universal Japan! Home of all the classics the other Universal parks didn't want!

To get to the entrance you have to go through (1/2) City Walk.

The park entrance plaza with Hollywood Dream.

Of course a globe pic.

Inside the corporate office.

First ride Space Fantasy!

A look at the New York section.

Looks just like Orlando!

See Orlando! But plus Hollywood Dream...

... and some Spidey!

Hollywood Dream from across the lake!

Amityville from across the lake.

Looking toward Jurassic Park.

Thank you for the Power Of Hollywood!

Get all your weird Japanese souvenirs here!

Watch out Doc... you're next!

Delorian

Who wants Chinese in Japan?

Hogwarts in the distant.

Shouldn't Disaster be here? Or a Walking Dead Maze?

Of course the jeep is here.

Jurassic Park!

"Welcome to Jurassic Park" or "ジュラシック·パークへようこそ"

Welcome to Amityville!

First lunch.

Hogwarts looming over Amityville

Bruce is still the price of the village here.

Oh boy!

Our boat and great guide! Thanks for saving us from JAWS!

Amity had a play structure... who knew?

If you ever wondered what the inside of the kick a$$ vending machines of Japan look like well here you go!

Moving on...

It was Easter in Japan?

Our next stop is in that building.

The inside looks great!

All for a kiddie coaster!

At this point I didn't realize the rain case my lens to get stuck.

Hollywood Dream over the Sesame Street area.

I won't lie I kinda wanted to do this.

Really cool thing I seen. There was no one in this section of the park when we went through so the staff was making art with flower pedals. That is a Elmo face on the right.

They have one here????

Who wants one???

Quick Lap

They had Terminator as well!

Our hang out for the next 30 mins.

USJ had several signature drinks.

Universal Studios Japan Highball. It was really good!

Time for the kick a$$ backstage tour.

The only photos we were allowed.

Incase you ever wanted to see the maintenance bay.

Two movies in one theater!

The group heading to Hollywood Dream.

That line has been like that all day!

That "days remaining" countdown doesn't matter anymore. You can ride it anytime now!

Time to head out.

Song list on Hollywood Dream. I recommend #1.

Not intense but a fun ride. If you can only choose one make sure you ride Backdrop.

Heading back to Space Fantasy for one last ride.

One last ride

One last walk through City Walk.

Our station at the end of City Walk.

Our welcome dinner restaurant! That's all! Hirakata Park and Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine next!

This was our next stop!

Edited December 9, 2013 by kidcoaster 2

I'm glad the park made the Backdrop version of Hollywood Dream a permanent thing.

^It's a "gimmick" that actually improved the ride. I liked Space Fantasy, too, even though it made no sense at all.

 

Did they have this in Florida? I've never seen them before, love it!!

Can someone please beam me to Japan?

Thanks for the report! Totally love the attention to detail! Another place to add to my bucket list!

Awesome detail in your report! I totally have one random question, as I think I missed the news on this one...what exactly is "Hollywood Dream Backdrop"? Is this just a backwards train or something? I'm just confused as to why they'd need an extra entrance for that....

That Spiderman walk-back was the best thing ever. It's always great when you get people so close to the project showing you around. They were so excited with so much to show and tell that we ran overtime, even. I think we all have a huge new appreciation for the ride.

 

^One of trains runs backwards, yes. It has it's on queue. I'm not sure how many trains Hollywood Dream/ Backdrop has? It was so much better backwards and the music/ sound system on Universal's coasters work really well. Add J-Pop to Backdrop and you've got a great ride

Do the songs for the ride change often it was eminem when I visited 2 years ago? Or was it a one-time update when they installed the backwards trains?